December 6] 1906 – January 3, 1976) was a Soviet writer who developed the theory of "conflictless" drama.

He was awarded the Stalin Prize for the novel in 1941, as well as for his plays Khleb nash nashushchny (Our Daily Bread) in 1948 and Zagovor obrechennykh (Conspiracy of the Condemned, a "virulently anti-American drama"[2]) in 1949, and for his script for the film Stalingradskaya bitva (The battle of Stalingrad) in 1950.

He later turned his 1956 novel Krutye gory (Steep Hills) into the play Dali dal'nye, ne oglyadnye (1957).

In describing the "nadir of the Soviet theatre" between World War II and the death of Stalin, Michael Glenny writes:Matters reached the depth of absurdity when one of the most compliant Stalinist playwrights, Nikolay Virta, propounded the theory of 'lack of conflict'.

[3] Kornei Chukovsky described Virta as follows in his diary entry for October 19, 1941:But morally suspect as he is, there is something endearing about him: he hasn't read a thing and doesn't care for poetry, music, or nature, yet he is hardworking, tireless in his machinations (and not only when they're for his own good), not without literary ability (some of his newspaper reports are very well written).